Rheumatoid arthritis affects your joints and can also affect other parts of your body too. It’s a type of arthritis caused by your immune system attacking tissue lining your joints. There’s no exact known cause.
But there are ways to improve symptoms and help you reduce pain – and this includes yoga.
Recent medical studies show that yoga with its stretching, strengthening, and calming effects, can be a great exercise for people living with rheumatoid arthritis (RA).
A 2013 study of 26 women with RA who did yoga twice a week for 6 weeks, showed less disability related to pain. While women in the study said they still felt pain, they could accept and manage it better. They also had more energy.
A further study published in March 2019 in the journal Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience, found that those with the disease who practiced yoga regularly in addition to taking medication decreased their inflammatory markers and had less depression after two months, than a control group who simply continued their meds and didn’t practice yoga.
Also by gaining some control over pain with simple and gentle yogic movements participants in the studies, felt more empowered and confident.
Chair yoga is a particularly helpful exercise for RA sufferers, as it allows you to move into poses you might otherwise not be able to do.
Whether you’re doing a modified downward facing dog while sitting down or using the chair to help you balance during a warrior pose, you’ll still feel the wonderful physical and emotional health benefits that even a short practice can bring.
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